Trump Signs Executive Order to Keep Gitmo Prison Open

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Updated Jan. 31, 2018 7:28AM ET / Published Jan. 30, 2018 10:47PM ET

REUTERS/Lucas Jackson

President Trump on Tuesday signed an executive order to keep the U.S. prison facility at Guantánamo Bay open. He reportedly signed the order before the State of the Union, publicly announcing it during the address before Congress. “So today, I am keeping another promise,” the president said during his speech. “I just signed an order directing Secretary Mattis to reexamine our military detention policy and to keep open the detention facilities at Guantánamo Bay.” The order reverses an Obama-era initiative “to shutter the controversial prison,” where 41 detainees still remain. During the speech, Trump outlined the need to “detain and question” terrorists and “unlawful enemy combatants” captured overseas. The base in Cuba has been utilized as a military prison since 2002.